US News Trump Has Sold Millions In Real Estate To Secret Buyers

00:05 11 january 2018

00:05 11 january 2018 Source:
Newsweek

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President Trump ’s companies sold more than million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

President Trump 's companies sold more than million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ' identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

Trump sold 41 luxury condo units in Las Vegas last year to people who used limited liability companies (LLCs), which allow them to hide their identities, a USA Today review found. The president can withdraw profits from these sales at any time using a trust that names him as the sole beneficiary, but is managed by sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

Before Trump signed the tax bill into law in December 2017, a last-minute tax break was added for real estate investors who use LLCs, partnerships and S-corporations to make deals.

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President Donald Trump has been exposed many times as a shady businessman, and it seems old habits die hard as reports reveal he sold million in real estate last year to secretive buyers .

President Trump ’s companies sold more than million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

The number of buyers using LLCs to purchase property from Trump climbed even before the tax break was announced last year. A mere 4 percent of buyers used the secretive shell companies in the two years before Trump became the Republican nominee. A year later, the number dramatically increased to nearly 70 percent, according to USA Today.

But with a majority of buyers are choosing to remain anonymous, liberal watchdog groups including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have raised questions about the transparency of Trump's foreign deals. The sale of Trump's Palm Beach mansion to a Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev in 2008 resurfaced last year after speculation that the Trump administration had colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign. Moreover, a Reuters report found that at least 63 people with "Russian passports or addresses" has purchased nearly $98.4 million worth of Trump's property in South Florida. Trump has also sold his personal Park Avenue penthouse to Chinese investor Angela Chen.

President Trump ’s companies sold more than million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

Trump has never fully revealed his real estate holdings, and he’s not required to do so by law, and the sudden and dramatic increase in LLC purchases raise alarms about who exactly is buying his properties — and why. One of those sold afterward for million , although that buyer remains a mystery.

“If someone wants to do business with the Trump entities in the form of an LLC, we look behind the LLC to see who the owner of it is and where the funding is coming from,” Bobby Burchfield, the ethics advisor at the Trump Organization told the publication. “If we can’t determine that, we won’t sign off on it.”

Before his inauguration, Trump announced that he would turn over his companies to his sons, but would not divest from his properties and assets.

“While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses,” Trump said in a series of tweets in November 2016. “Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!”

The tax break for LLCs, S-corps, LPs and other businesses permit owners to avoid paying business tax rates by allowing income to pass through to partners who will then pay an individual tax rate on the money.

New York real estate mogul Steve Witkoff told Newsweek in December the benefits of the tax bill reaped by real estate investors will trickle down into the economy.

“I think you've got to create all those conditions that get the private sector to want to invest,” Witkoff said. “The president's game plan is more growth. Let's add several trillion more dollars of GDP, expand the tax net, lower the amount that you pay, but expand it. More tax revenue means we're going to pay down the deficit.”

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President Trump ’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

Trump sold $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive - www.cnbc.com

President Trump 's companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ' identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

President Trump ’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

President Trump ’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

Trump has never fully revealed his real estate holdings, and he’s not required to do so by law, and the sudden and dramatic increase in LLC purchases raise alarms about who exactly is buying his properties — and why. One of those sold afterward for $34 million , although that buyer remains a mystery.

Two years before Trump 's nomination, only 4% of buyers used so-called limited liability companies to make their purchases, according to an extensive USA Today review of Trump real estate The review also shows that the Trump Organization sold more than $35 million worth of real estate in 2017

President Trump ’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, mostly to secretive shell companies that obscure buyers ’ identities, continuing a dramatic shift in his customers' behavior that began during the election, a USA TODAY review found.

The majority of real estate properties sold by President Trump ’s corporations since he clinched the Republican nomination for president have been purchased by shell companies, a new Only 4 percent of the buyers used shell companies in the two years before, according to the newspaper.

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